It has been 150 years since the American Civil War, but the West Baton Rouge Museum will never forget it.
This Saturday, the museum will open its “When the Cannons Fell Silent” exhibit commemorating the sesquicentennial end of the Civil War. The exhibit features expansive Civil War collections, including prints, original items and huge replica cannons and projectiles. 
Exhibit curator and former University instructor Angelique Bergeron said the museum has been commemorating the war leading up to the sesquicentennial for years now and must continue to do so in order to honor history.
“We have to remember the history of what happened and what the causes and effects of the war were,” Bergeron said. “As a society, we don’t focus on the real reasons behind the war enough, and I tried to tell that story with this exhibit.”
Items marking the Battle of Baton Rouge will be featured heavily in this exhibit, more so than any of the previous Civil War commemorations at the museum. Bergeron said this time, she wanted to concentrate on what went on in East and West Baton Rouge during the war. 
Most of the items featured are exclusively from Baton Rouge or from collectors in the area. 
“We’ve done several exhibits over the past four years for the sesquicentennial,” Bergeron said. “For this one, we’re focusing more on the devastation, loss of life and the aftermath of the war in Baton Rouge.”
A big part of this exhibit is Sarah Morgan, a woman who chronicled the Civil War in Baton Rouge in her diary. Morgan and her diary have since become a historical staple of the war, and the exhibit will feature her personal rocking chair, which the museum borrowed from exclusive state archives.
Bergeron said the war was a dark time for people living in Baton Rouge. Union troops were ravaging the area, which the exhibit will display through the more than 150 prints and sketches illustrating life in the South during the time
period. 
The exhibit will also feature Confederate money and rare Civil War hair necklaces made from the hair of dead loved ones. Bergeron said many people are unaware of the hair necklaces and the meaning behind them, but they were a custom during the era. 
“They would make jewelry from soldiers’ hair to remember them, by braiding the hair together to make a broach or a necklace,” Bergeron said. “They’re amazing, and they’re made out of actual human hair.”
Photography was new technology during the war, and the exhibit will feature some of the first images of slaves gathering together trying to escape to the Union side of the battle to be free. Other images include Civil War ships, soldiers and Confederate General Henry Watkins Allen, where Port
Allen gets its name. 
“It’s been said many times before, but if you don’t know your history, you’re doomed to repeat it,” Bergeron said. “The Civil War is something I hope we never repeat, and I hope people come to the exhibit and understand that.”
Bergeron said she believes exhibits like this are important for young students to see, as they make the war seem more real and not like something from the distant past. 
She said people can learn a lot from this — more than they ever could in a classroom. 
“The exhibit is to make the war not seem like something that happened 150 years ago, but making it more real today and something you could imagine going through,” Bergeron said. 
“When the Cannons Fell Silent” opens April 18 at the West Baton Rouge Museum and closes August 16. Admission for students and seniors is $2 per person, and regular admission is $4. 
You can reach Kayla Randall on Twitter @kay_ran21.

Gallery • 3 Photos

Ronni Bourgeois

Confederate Memorial erected in Baton Rouge borrowed from the Capitol as a part of "When the Cannons Fell Silent" exhibit which will be opening Saturday, April 18, 2015.